Baking for Tomorrow!

March Bread Guild: Irish Breads

Bread guild was a great success on Sunday. We had several new folks join us with the usual suspects showing to show them the ropes. We made breads from Ireland. With that idea, we got into the grains and flavors of very rustic breads. One of the new students brought along some very flavorful currents, a common ingredient in Irish soda bread and freckle bread. We listened to U2, the Pogues and Van Morrison in honor of the Irish bread. We noticed that the breads need quite a bit of water when they have whole grains in them. I was reading that you can really increase the water by about 5-7% when using whole grains. They were delicious and golden brown. Some of the students were amazed at how ugly, Irish soda bread is. You have to realize that it was made by very poor people a hundred years ago. Now it’s a tradition but it doesn’t compare to say…brioche. But that’s a story for another day.

Next month, April, is flatbreads month. E-mail me if you would like to get on the list for the Bread Guild Newsletter. See you in school.